Ever been any natural extinctions:Was Selective preservation of species

[Neil Jones]

On Saturday 27 April 2002 08:42 pm, Martin Bailey wrote:
> Norbert,
>
> I deleted inadvertently your last post with copy to leplist.  If my memory
> serves me correctly, the question that you posed was should we try to stop
> a species from disappearing if it appears to be at the end of its
> evolutionary life?


I think there is a red herring implicit in this argument. The real  question 
is are there any known examples of Lepidopteran extinctions. that were _not_
caused by man-made factors?

It is frequently cited that extinction is a natural process. (This is usually 
done by the opponents of conservation.) However, in reality surely the level 
of natural extinctions is utterly minuscule when compared to those which are
"man-made".

I am very aware that local population extinctions are a natural phenomenon 
and indeed very much a  part of the study of population dynamics but 
extinction of taxa by natural means is a phenomenon that has to be measured 
over the geological timescale.

--
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.butterflyguy.com/
NOTE NEW WEB ADDRESS
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve

 
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